Desire for post bariatric body contouring in South East Scotland

SummaryThe past 20 years has seen a doubling in the worldwide prevalence of morbid obesity (usually defined as a body mass index BMI, >40 kg/m2). Scotland has one of the worst obesity records amongst developed countries. In 2010, 65.1% of all adults aged 16 and over were overweight or obese. Morbid obesity rates (BMI 40 kg/m2 or more) increased from 1.2% in 1995 to 2.7% in 2003, and fluctuated between 2.2% and 2.7% between 2008 and 2010 (Figure 1).Morbid obesity is associated with twice the mortality compared with the general population. The National Audit Office (NAO) estimated that in 1998 over 30,000 deaths a year in England were attributable to obesity, approximately 6% of all deaths in that year. Obesity is associated and with other conditions such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis and cancer, as well as increased rates of psychiatric illness.